US fossil fuel production is subsidized to the tune of $20 billion annuallyResearchers at Oil Change International (OCI) set out to quantify thelevel of US fossil fuel subsidies, but before we get to their results, afew important caveats.

OCI is only counting direct production subsidies. As they acknowledge,that leaves out a great deal.

For one thing, it leaves out the annual $14.5 billion in consumptionsubsidies — things like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program(LIHEAP), which helps lower-income residents pay their (fuel oil)heating bills. (There are better ways to help poor people, but let’sleave that aside for now.)

It also leaves out subsidies for overseas fossil fuel projects ($2.1billion a year).

Most significantly, OCI’s analysis leaves out indirect subsidies —things like the money the US military spends to protect oil shippingroutes, or the unpaid costs of health and climate impacts from burningfossil fuels. These indirect subsidies reach to the hundreds ofbillions, dwarfing direct subsidies — the IMF says that, globallyspeaking, they amount to $5.3 trillion a year. But they arecontroversial and very difficult to measure precisely.

Finally, OCI acknowledges that its estimates of state-level subsidiesare probably low, since many states don’t report the costs of taxexpenditures (i.e., tax breaks and credits to industry), so data isdifficult to come by.

All of which is to say: OCI has produced about the most conservativepossible estimate of the subsidies received by fossil fuels in the US.These are solely production subsidies — taxpayer money that goesdirectly to producing more fossil fuels.

So what’s the verdict?

Adding everything up: $14.7 billion in federal subsidies and $5.8billion in state-level incentives, for a total of $20.5 billion annuallyin corporate welfare.

US fossil fuel production is subsidized to the tune of $20 billion annuallyResearchers at Oil Change International (OCI) set out to quantify thelevel of US fossil fuel subsidies, but before we get to their results, afew important caveats.

We hear that a lot. It's B.S. Fossil fuel, hydro and nuclear account for 98% of generated power. Proportionally, any subsidies are minor as you are talking about TRILLIONS of dollars.